Profitable Plots is currently being investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) for suspected fraud. Some 4000 investors have invested over $23.5m in the various investment products offered by Profitable Plots. Of this group, 1500 are local investors but the amount invested by them is unclear.

SIAS is a non-profit organisation formed to lobby for the rights of individual retail investors. They were known for helping to resolve the CLOB shares impasse when the Malaysian shares of Singaporean investors were stuck in limbo during the late 1990s.

I take my hat off to the folks who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes the past year, to lobby the lobby group which is supposed to represent them for help.

As a country aspiring to be a regional financial hub, we are still lacking in consumer protection for investment products compared to other countries like Hong Kong. Hopefully the scale of this incident will have alerted the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to the need for greater protection of consumer rights.

3 Responses to SIAS finally acts on Profitable Plots issue

According to a UK journalist I spoke to 75% of the Concorde village site was sold which would equal at least S$70M. Add onto that Boron and the other 3 useless UK land banking sites that Profitable were touting and even allowing for some discounting you get a number much bigger than the S$23m.I hope the CAD will publish their analysis .
I see the SIAS meeting as a recruitment drive and networking event and not much more.

Every time it comes back to court CAD seem to ask for another 6 months. I don’t know if the issue is obtaining proof or they just want to drag it out to prevent the company from doing business.

There is a company currently operating out if Singapore selling UK green belt land plots which cost S$6 per square metre for S$300 per square metre. They present Investment returns based on what might happen if the land were converted from green belt to building land in 6 years. They make no promise just suggest. That is certainly unethical, the investor will almost certainly lose 98% of their investment but is it illegal?